As many of our clients begin rolling out their 2017 plans, the question “how do I make strategy part of our everyday?” has been an elevated topic among our strategy advisors.
It’s a question that we’re often faced with, and truth be told, one that is not easily answered. It directly depends on both your organization’s commitment to the strategic management process and the quality of your plan. But, even with commitment and dedication, we see organizations fail at strategy for one simple reason: it never becomes part of their everyday at all levels of their organization.
Recently, we’ve been working Downtown Seattle to help rollout and implement their plan. They’ve had a quality plan and commitment to the process, but have fallen short on making strategy a priority. Instead of letting their plan fizz-out in 2017, they’ve been making some really positive strides in putting strategy at the heart of their organization.
Here are three reasons we think they’ll see strategic success in 2017:
- We’ve tailored the plan and software to the speak to the contributions of individuals: Maintaining relevancy at every level of the plan makes it easy to see how everyone’s expertise contributes to the plan’s execution.
- They’re shifting culture to make strategy part of their job title: Embedding strategy and its execution within everyone’s day-to-day job makes sure it gets done. It’s a huge shift from the notion that strategy is just “an extra task”.
- Everyone is learning how to use the platform: This may sound like an obvious point, but execution can fail unless everyone knows how to use the systems and tools you have in place.
The importance in clearly communicating your plan and the relevancy in your day-to-day work will make or break your plan in 2017. We’re excited to see how Downtown Seattle (and several others we’re working with) can engrain strategy at the core of their organization this year.
